November 21, 2008

Within the Rostov – Russia Mission the Krasnodar Apartment is famous for being the best apartment in the whole mission. Back in April Elder Addis filmed a wonderful tour of the apartment for us. The highlights include seeing the inside of their fridge, the toilet, his loofah, the ‘watery’ lake, his BYU insignia on his shorts etc.

November 20, 2008

As I mentioned in an earlier post due to Russia’s stringent visa regulations the foreign missionaries must leave Russia every 3 months to update their visas. The video is from a stop they made while traveling back to Rostov from Ukraine. Now if I’m not mistaken Ukraine no longer allows Americans to come to renew their visas so they have had to find alternatives. Some missionaries travel as far as Spain (and stay at the MTC there). Elder Addis’ most recent visa trip was to Prague in the Czech Republic.

November 20, 2008

When we receive photos from Elder Addis a while back it also included several videos. Sorry I’ve been a slacker in posting them. These videos are from the day that Elder Addis and his companions went to see the Mother Russia statue in Volgograd. I watch these videos when I’m really missing him – it’s so nice to hear his voice! Oh and isn’t it weird to hear Michael speaking Russian! Enjoy!

November 19, 2008

A couple of weeks ago in Elder Addis’ email he informed us that he would be training his first and probably only ‘greenie’. His new charge is Elder Buscov and they’ve been companions now for 3 weeks or so. Elder Buscov is a Russian native . He joined the Church roughly two years ago and decided to serve a mission against the wishes of his entire family. I can’t imagine what it would be like to serve a mission knowing that your family isn’t supportive.

But the coolest thing of all about Elder Buscov is that he is exactly the type of missionary Russia needs right now. Some of you may remember that Elder Addis’ district was delayed in their travel to Russia due to visa issues. Well in the past six months these ‘visa issues’ have only grown more severe. American missionaries in Russia must travel outside of the country every three months to renew their visas. This is costly and disruptive to the work. So the Church decided that for the time being they will no longer call North American missionaries to Russia. This is leaving many of the Russian missions understaffed. The burden now falls on the native Russian. There are wonderful stories of Russian members stepping up to the plate and serving full time missions. Elder Buscov is just one of hopefully many!

I’ve never met Elder Buscov nor do I know much more about him than what I shared with you – but I am proud of him for serving the Lord and serving the people of his Homeland in a capacity that he can only accomplish as a full-time representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

I’ll be sure to point out pictures of Elder Buscov when we get some (but don’t hold you breath – we don’t get pictures that often!)